Tag: starting

Categories
World News

Multimillion-dollar app founders’ share ideas for beginning a enterprise

Multimillion-dollar app founders' share tips for starting a business

When husband-and-wife duo Chris Halim and Raena Lim quit their jobs in 2016 to start their own sustainable fashion business, they had little idea of the success it would become.

But they knew one thing for sure: get a basic product to market as soon as possible — that’s the advice they stand by today.

“As start-up founders, especially at the beginning, there is a strong temptation to build the perfect product before you launch anything, or very strong temptation to aim for all the features and over-engineer everything,” said Halim, an ex-consultant.

“From our learnings, that would be a mistake,” the Style Theory CEO told CNBC Make It.

Start simple

Once Halim and his banker wife, Lim, identified an opportunity to bring a clothes rental service to Singapore, they wasted little time in creating a waitlist to gauge interest before rolling out the service to a small number of consumers.

The best way to launch anything is always do it simple with minimal scope, get it to market asap.

Chris Halim

co-founder and CEO, Style Theory

As demand grew, the couple expanded their user base and apparel collection, adapting to customer requests as they went.

It’s advice shared by many business leaders, including in the iconic book “The Lean Startup,” which recommends entrepreneurs build a minimum viable product (MVP) and then test and iterate quickly in response to customer feedback.

The co-founders of Style Theory, Raena Lim and Chris Halim.

Style Theory

“The best way to launch anything is always do it simple with minimal scope, get it to market asap, then get customers’ feedback,” said Lim.

“Based on customers’ feedback, you can then iterate and make it better. I think that’s a much better way to build something that customers will love,” he continued.

Dream big

The couple’s nimble, data-driven approach has served them well. Five years on, the company boasts some 200,000 users across Singapore and Indonesia, and a collection of 50,000 clothes and 2,200 shoes.

With backing to the tune of $30 million from investors including Softbank, Alpha JWC Ventures and the Paradise Group, the company now plans to expand into Hong Kong and introduce menswear and kidswear.

In entrepreneurship, you face failures every day … it’s much more important to focus on what are you going to do next.

Chris Halim

co-founder and CEO, Style Theory

“That future is for you to build and you get to dream it with your team and say, let’s make the call to do something so different,” said co-founder Lim.

But, the pair cautioned, it’s important to take the highs with the lows. Their business was hit hard by the pandemic and despite pivoting to offer new services, the rental service has today recovered just 75% of pre-pandemic users.

“In entrepreneurship, you face failures every day, you make wrong decisions all the time and it’s all on you,” said Halim.

“It’s much more important to focus on what are you going to do next, how are you going to fix it, and how you’re going to grow the business next.”

Don’t miss: This husband-and-wife team shares their tips for going into business together

Like this story? Subscribe to CNBC Make It on YouTube!

Categories
Health

Native officers throughout U.S. are beginning to reimpose masks guidelines as delta variant takes maintain

Local officials across U.S. are starting to reimpose mask rules as delta variant takes hold

From Los Angeles to Massachusetts, local officials across the country are urging Americans to wear masks again as the Delta variant rips across the US

Several California and Nevada counties are now advising all residents to wear masks in public indoor spaces, regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not. Local leaders in at least three other states have reintroduced mask mandates, issued face-covering recommendations, or threatened the return of strict public health limits for all residents – despite federal health guidelines that in most cases, vaccinated individuals do not use these protocols must follow the settings.

“A surge in the number of cases was not unexpected as the community began to reopen fully,” Jennifer Sizemore, spokeswoman for the southern Nevada health district, told CNBC in an email. Clark County, home of Las Vegas, tightened its mask recommendation last week after Covid-19 cases and deaths rose 50% in the previous week. A total of 4,599 new infections and 33 coronavirus-related deaths were reported last week, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Covid infections are rising again in the US after months of falling cases, new cases have risen 55% since last week to an average of 37,000 new cases per day in the past seven days, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University .

The CDC relaxed its Covid guidelines on masks for fully vaccinated individuals on May 13, stating that they do not need to use them or practice social distancing in most environments. CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told lawmakers at a Senate hearing Tuesday that the agency was actively reviewing its mask and other public health guidelines as the virus and pandemic evolve, especially as scientists learn more about the Delta variant and how it is doing Keep vaccines against it.

“A lot has changed since May 13,” said Walensky. “We now have a variant in circulation in this country that was 3% (of new cases) at the time and is now 83% and much more transferable.”

The Delta variant is spreading across the country, especially in areas with low vaccination rates, she said. Nearly two-thirds of counties in the US have vaccinated less than 40% of their residents, “which is what enables the emergence and rapid spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant,” leading to an increase in hospital admissions and deaths, she said.

This is gradually becoming apparent in Nevada, which, according to CDC data, has only fully vaccinated 43.5% of its population. Clark County recorded 641 new Covid hospital admissions last week, 23% more admissions than the previous seven days. Despite the resurgent outbreak in the Las Vegas area, Sizemore said the county’s vaccination rate has remained at just under 42% for the past two weeks.

“However, the community’s vaccination rate has slowed and unvaccinated people are not taking recommended precautions, including wearing masks and continuing to practice social distancing,” Sizemore said.

Nevada isn’t the only state that is stepping up its mask guidelines. On Friday, seven counties in California’s Bay Area recommended the use of masks indoors for a full mandate. The California city of Berkeley also called for the continued use of masks.

Further south, Los Angeles County restored its indoor public mask mandate on Saturday. The county initially lifted the mandate on Thursday when the state formally withdrew a number of executive measures to contain the spread of Covid.

White House senior medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Los Angeles County’s new mask mandate could serve as a prototype for other regions with high rates of infection. He said he expected schools and businesses to continue enforcing their own mask policies to protect against the Delta variant.

“If you want to be even more secure despite being vaccinated, you should wear a mask indoors, especially in crowded places,” Fauci said in an interview with CNBC’s Closing Bell. On Wednesday.

In Massachusetts, Provincetown officials advised everyone on Monday to resume wearing masks indoors after the July 4 celebrations resulted in an outbreak of new cases.

In Orleans Parish, Louisiana – where the CDC reported 560 new coronavirus cases last week – New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell authorized a consultation on indoor masks on Wednesday to help curb the spread of the Delta variant. And New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy told CNBC’s Squawk Box on Tuesday that he wanted to avoid reinstating a mask mandate and instead press for residents to get vaccinated.

“Right now, I hope we don’t have to,” Murphy said. “If we have to, we will.”

Categories
Health

New York to finish restaurant curfew, permit bar seating in NYC beginning Could

New York to end restaurant curfew, allow bar seating in NYC starting May

People walk through local restaurants during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in New York City on March 11, 2021.

Eduardo Munoz | Reuters

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that the state would lift the curfew on restaurants across the state and ban on bar seating in New York City. This is a major milestone in restoring a pandemic lockdown industry.

Sitting in bars will be allowed in New York City starting May 3, more than a year after restrictions were first introduced at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

New York City, once considered the country’s pandemic hotspot, has been hit hard by shutdowns. Due to severe bar and restaurant restrictions that began in March last year, the city suffered from widespread unemployment. According to the New York Comptroller, more than 1,200 restaurants closed their doors forever by July 2020.

The governor also announced that other curfews on food and beverage services in the state will also end. The outdoor dining curfew at 12 noon will end on May 17, and indoor dining curfews will expire on May 31st.

Curfews for all events with meals will be lifted on May 31, and curfews for events with meals where participants can prove a vaccination status or a recently negative Covid test result will be lifted by May 17.

Catering events in dormitories can also be resumed above the state meeting limit of 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors from May 3, provided the events are manned by a licensed caterer and, according to a press release, strictly adhere to health and safety standards Security guidelines keep out of the governor’s office.

The announcements come as Covid numbers continue to decline in New York State and New York City. The rate of positivity is just over 2% nationwide and just over 6% in the city. The vaccination campaign is also making headway: 44% of New York State residents have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine.

“We know the COVID positivity rate is a function of our behavior, and for the past year New Yorkers have remained disciplined and continued practices we know to try to stop the virus from spreading,” Cuomo said. “By lifting these restrictions on restaurants, bars and catering businesses, these pandemic-ravaged businesses can recover as we return to a new normal in a post-pandemic world.”

The governor also announced that the capacity of gyms and fitness centers outside of New York City will increase from 33% to 50%, the capacity of casinos and gaming facilities from 25% to 50%, and the capacity of offices from 50% to 75% .

“To be clear, we will only be able to sustain this progress if everyone gets the Covid vaccine,” said Cuomo.

Categories
Business

China is beginning scientific trials of a Covid vaccine that may be inhaled

China is starting clinical trials of a Covid vaccine that can be inhaled

China’s CanSino Biologics will begin clinical trials next week for a Covid-19 vaccine administered by inhalation, the company’s co-founder and chief executive officer Xuefeng Yu told CNBC on Sunday.

The effectiveness rates for China’s Covid vaccines have been found to be lower than those developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Earlier this month, the director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control publicly admitted that Chinese vaccines “don’t have very high protection rates” and that they are considering giving people various Covid shots to make the vaccine more effective.

Yu told CNBC that an inhaled vaccine could be more effective than the injected one because the coronavirus enters the human body through the respiratory tract.

CanSinoBIO is developing the inhalation vaccine together with the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology. The company’s injected adenovirus type 5 vector vaccine – or Ad5-nCoV – has already been approved for use in China and several other countries.

Speaking to CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal at the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan Province, China, Yu explained that an inhaled vaccine could theoretically provide additional protection by producing antibodies or T cells – white blood cells that are vital to the immune system. activates airways in the EU.

People who received Covid-19 shots at a temporary vaccination site in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, on April 15, 2021.

Liu Ranyang | China News Service | Getty Images

If that protective layer fails and the virus penetrates deeper into the body, other parts of the immune system could keep fighting the Covid virus, Yu added.

“So you add more layers – makes sense, doesn’t it? That’s why we’re going the mucosal path,” he said.

The CEO said the company used the same concept to develop an inhalation vaccine for tuberculosis, or TB. Studies conducted in Canada showed that the inhaled dose for the TB vaccine needed to protect it “is much, much less than the actual injection,” he said.

Increase the effectiveness of the vaccine

CanSinoBIO’s single-dose injected Covid vaccine has been approved for use in several countries including China, Pakistan, Mexico and Hungary.

The company said preliminary data from third-phase clinical trials overseas showed its vaccine was 68.83% effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 disease two weeks after an injection, while the rate after four weeks Fell 65.28%, Reuters reported.

By comparison, updated data showed the Pfizer BioNTech shot was 91% effective at preventing infection, while Moderna said its vaccine was more than 90% effective six months after the second shot.

According to Yu, CanSinoBIO investigated adding a booster shot six months after the first injection, which could improve the immune response to the coronavirus.

“This also suggests that our vaccine could be improved – whether mixed with others or made by ourselves, I think that really requires a scientific study. We actually need data to show which way could be better,” said the CEO.

Reuters reported Monday that Chinese researchers are testing blending Covid vaccines developed by CanSinoBIO and a unit of Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products. The process, which is ongoing in the eastern city of Nanjing, is expected to involve 120 participants, the report said.

China was the first country to report cases of Covid-19 in late 2019 and appears to have largely contained the outbreak. The country has announced that it will vaccinate 40% of its population by June.

Categories
Entertainment

25 Free Performances Come to Bryant Park Beginning in June

25 Free Performances Come to Bryant Park Starting in June

Once guests arrive at the park, they will have their temperatures checked and be shown to their seats, which will be provided with space for social distancing. The park has no plans to get vaccinations or negative virus tests, but is considering them as options, according to Dan Fishman, director of public events for the park.

Other organizations participating in Bryant Park’s series this summer include Elisa Monte Dance, Harlem Stage, National Sawdust, New York Chinese Cultural Center, Limón Dance Company, and Greenwich House Music School. New York City Opera singers will perform a Pride concert on June 18th.

Many groups and institutions have been downsized or completely cocooned since last year.

“We were in hibernation,” said Tom Wirtshafter, the city hall president, who ran more than 60 virtual programs during the pandemic but, like most venues, had to leave most of the staff.

City Hall, which opened in 1921, will wrap up Bryant Park’s season on September 20 with a 100th anniversary event attended by Chris Thile, the mandolin player whose eclectic tastes range from bluegrass to creek.

Tiffany Rea-Fisher, the artistic director of Elisa Monte Dance, who also curates dance performances in the park, said her company only played twice in the past year. It will perform with the Paul Taylor Dance Company on August 20, and Rea-Fisher said it was not easy to find other dance groups to prepare.

“Finding companies that were ready in terms of perseverance was a challenge,” she said. “You don’t want to bring dancers back after a year and let them do a performance – it’s all about injuries.”

Categories
Health

NY expands Covid vaccine eligibility to all adults beginning April 6, Cuomo says

NY expands Covid vaccine eligibility to all adults starting April 6, Cuomo says

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will receive a Covid-19 vaccine at a church in Harlem, New York on March 17, 2021.

Seth Little | AFP | Getty Images

New York will expand its Covid vaccine eligibility to all over 30s starting Tuesday, followed by all residents 16 and over on April 6, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday.

President Joe Biden is moving almost a month before May 1, which is when states can largely open their supplies to all residents.

“Today we are taking a monumental step forward in the fight against COVID,” Cuomo said in a statement. “As we continue to upgrade eligibility, New York will make the vaccine available to every community to ensure justice, especially for color communities too often left behind.”

Nearly 30% of all New Yorkers have been reported to have received at least one vaccine. The state has fired 9,056,970 shots so far.

Categories
Business

New York Gov. Cuomo says Barclays Middle, different massive arenas within the state, can reopen beginning Feb. 23

New York Gov. Cuomo says Barclays Center, other large arenas in the state, can reopen starting Feb. 23

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks to reporters during a press conference at a COVID-19 pop-up vaccination center in the William Reid Apartments in Brooklyn, New York City, the United States, on Jan. 23, 2021.

Altaffer | Reuters

Large stadiums and arenas in New York can reopen with limited capacity from February 23, if approved by the state Department of Health, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday.

Stadiums with 10,000 or more seats are capped at 10% and anyone entering the buildings must present a negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours of the event. Face covering, social distancing and temperature checks on arrival will also be required, Cuomo said.

The first major event already approved by state health officials will take place at New York’s Barclays Center, where the Brooklyn Nets will play the Sacramento Kings on February 23, Cuomo said.

“Any major stadium or arena – hockey, basketball, soccer, soccer, baseball, music shows, performances – can open on February 23,” Cuomo said at a press conference.

Source: New York State

This is the first time since mid-March, when the coronavirus first pierced New York state and overloaded its hospital system, allowing stadiums to reopen to fans across the state. Cuomo said Monday that reopening the state’s economies, including theaters and major venues, through Covid-19 testing “is something where New York wants to lead the way”.

Much of the state’s plan to reopen arenas is based on a pilot program that ran in January that allowed nearly 7,000 football fans to attend the Buffalo Bills home game as long as they presented a negative Covid-19 test. Cuomo called the program “an unprecedented success”.

“This hits the balance of safe reopening,” said Cuomo.

This is the latest news. Please try again.

Categories
Health

First Coronavirus Vaccines Head to States, Beginning Historic Effort

First Coronavirus Vaccines Head to States, Starting Historic Effort

“You are still a little hesitant,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “If we don’t go out there first, take the first doses of the vaccine, and show that we believe in and trust him, I don’t think the long-term carers will have the intake they need. ”

In most states, concerted efforts to vaccinate nursing home residents will begin a week later. Beginning December 21, under a contract with the federal government, CVS and Walgreens will deploy pharmacist teams to approximately 75,000 nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in all 50 states to vaccinate as many residents and employees as possible. CVS aims to complete the process over nine to 12 weeks.

On Thursday afternoon, when an FDA advisory committee was debating whether to recommend approval of the Pfizer vaccine, the first packages – vaccination cards, masks, visors, leaflets and syringes – arrived at the UPMC Presbyterian, a hospital in Pittsburgh.

Dr. Graham Snyder, UPMC’s medical director of infection prevention and hospital epidemiology, said a hospital committee had concluded that the immediate goal of the allocation was to prevent community-to-hospital transmission.

“The likelihood of exposure is greater in the community and at home than in the workplace,” he said, noting that health care workers in general have taken great precautions when among patients.

Some hospitals have announced that they will give priority to workers with underlying illnesses that pose a higher risk of developing serious illnesses.

Dr. Marci Drees, the infection prevention officer and hospital epidemiologist at ChristianaCare, a Delaware-based hospital system, said the system would offer its healthcare workers a list of such conditions, but would only ask them to generally state if they had any.

Categories
Business

New York Metropolis will shut indoor eating beginning Monday, Gov. Cuomo says

New York City will shut indoor dining starting Monday, Gov. Cuomo says

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that New York City restaurants will have to close indoor restaurants as new daily coronavirus cases across the state for the first time since spring and hospital stays in Covid-19 10,000 have dwarfed.

The Democratic governor said restaurants will continue to have al fresco dining areas and offer take-out and delivery from Monday. Cuomo warned earlier this week that the state could shut down indoor dining if the city’s hospitalization rate didn’t stabilize.

“You will see a bad December, a bad January. How bad is the question,” Cuomo said at a press conference.

He said the outbreak will not “end” until the vaccine is widely available, which could be June or September. “It’s a long six months between today and June,” he said.

Cuomo cited additional warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, issued last week, warning of “exposures in non-essential indoor and overcrowded outdoor areas.” According to a slide presented at the briefing, they presented an “avoidable risk for all participants”.

“In New York City, you have taken the CDC caution when eating indoors, along with the rate of transmission and the density and crowding, which is a bad situation. New York City hospital stays have continued to increase,” Cuomo said.

The move marks a notable reversal of the state’s reopening plans as New York City returned to dining at 25% indoor capacity on September 30th. The restaurants in the Big Apple have had to stay afloat and eat-out by eating al fresco in recent months, even as falls declined in summer and early fall. Cuomo and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio postponed the return of indoor dining in early July as other states in the US reported worsening outbreaks.

However, the Empire State governor urged the schools to stay open, saying they were much safer. He said the rate of positivity, or the percentage of Covid-19 tests that came back positive, “tends to be lower” in schools compared to the surrounding community.

“My point is, if it is safer for the children to be in school, then you have the children in school. If it is safer for the teacher to be in school, then you have the teacher in school “said Cuomo.

The state is now concerned about what Cuomo calls “living room sprawl”. Almost 74% of new Covid-19 cases come from households and social gatherings, according to Cuomo. Restaurants and bars accounted for 1.43% of new cases, while gyms accounted for less than 1%.

“We may see the end of the Thanksgiving wave, if you will, but we are about to get into the Hanukkah wave and the Christmas tide and the Christmas week and the Kwanzaa wave and New Years Eve and New Years Anniversary,” Cuomo said, adding added that the health authorities hope for a “stabilization” by mid to late January.

Source: New York State

According to a CNBC analysis of data from the COVID Tracking Project, an independent volunteer organization started by journalists from The Atlantic, New York reports an average of around 4,653 people hospitalized with Covid-19. This corresponds to an increase of 30% compared to a week ago.

However, “the situation in the hospitals is better than in the past,” said Cuomo. Compared to the spring when the virus first swept through New York and overwhelmed its hospital systems, there are now 30% fewer people in the state’s intensive care units and 50% fewer people intubated, Cuomo said. The mean hospital stay has also fallen from 11 days in the spring to five days now.

New York expects 170,000 doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine on Sunday or Monday, Cuomo said. The doses could be issued as emergency clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at any time after a key panel overwhelmingly approved the recordings Thursday night.

Another highly anticipated vaccine from Moderna could get the green light in the coming weeks. Cuomo said the state expects 346,000 doses of this vaccine by the week of December 21st.

“The vaccine is coming and we are ready to give it,” said Cuomo.